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Poker Freerolls: Secrets of Raising
The Secrets of Raising
Today we will talk about “The secret art of raising”. Most people think that you only raise when
you have a good hand and you want to win more money. This is correct but there are many other
reasons to raise and to be a winning player you need to know what you want to get from a raise
and if it is working.
There are 5 major reasons to raise:
1. To get more money from your hand.
2. To eliminate players.
3. To get a “Free” card.
4. To gain information.
5. To bluff or semi-bluff
1. To get more money from your hand. This is the simplest reason to raise a pot. Basically when
you feel that you have the best had you are going to raise to try to get more money in the pot. If
you have the “Nuts”, the best hand possible at the time this is the only reason you should raise.
Sometimes you may not want to raise in this case. You may want to slow play the hand.
2. To eliminate players. This is a pretty simple concept as well. This is the reason you raise with
AA or KK. You want to get people out before they can see the flop. AA and KK do very well
against a few people but against a lot of people there’s a good chance you will loose after all 5
cards come out. Another time when you might raise to eliminate players is when you flop top
pair, example: You hold AK and the flop comes 9 10 K, You now have top pair with the best
kicker. Here you would want to get people out of the hand so they don’t make 2 pair, a straight,
or a flush.
3. To get a “Free” card. Well you don’t get it for free but it costs you less. You would raise to get a
free card if you flop and open ended straight draw or flush draw and were in a later position. See
if you were playing 3-6 and you raised on the flop you would put an extra 3 dollars but in most
cases the other player or players will check to you assuming you have a better hand. This saves
you from calling a 6 dollar bet on the turn, instead you get it for free. You might also want to raise
the flop in late position when you have top pair and a weak kicker or mid pair with a good kicker.
4. To gain information. This is a more complex reason to raise. This move works best on or
before the flop. Before the flop you don’t know anything about a players hand other than it could
be anything but if you raise and a player re-raises then you know he has a good hand. Most
likely a hand in Group #1 or maybe #2. If he just calls you know that he probably doesn’t have a
“monster” hand. Now lest say after the flop you have a pair of aces with a 7 kicker, and your
opponent bets into you. Now if you call you couldn’t really tell how big of a hand he has but if you
raise him and he re-raises you are probably beat at least with a better kicker. This is a way to
actually save money. If you called all the way down to see his AK then you have lost a lot more
than you have to.
5. To bluff or semi-bluff. We wont get into bluffing right now. You really wont need to do much
bluffing in lower limit games. Most bluffing goes on in higher limit games, No-limit games, and
no-limit tournaments. Semi-bluffing however is something you need to know about. Semi-
bluffing is betting a hand that probably isn’t the best one at the time but can improve with more
cards. The real goal to semi-bluffing is to win the pot right then and there. So you only want to
semi- bluff when there are only a few player in the pot, you think you everyone might fold after
you bet or raise, and you are very sure that no one will check raise you. There are many
opportunities to semi-bluff in every game, most of the time they are not the right move though.
Remember to semi-bluff accordingly.
If you look back at all the reasons to raise you will see that a lot of the times when you raise you
might accomplish more than one goal. You might raise to get a free card but also gain
information and get more money in the pot. Its good to have a specific reason or two in your
mind before every raise, this way you wont be raising just for the sake of raising.
-----Suggestion-----
Next few times you play poker online have a notebook right in front of you. Every time you make a
raise write down what the main reason for raising was. Then write down if it was successful or
not. After you have about 25 entry’s for each of the 5 reasons look through your records and find
out what reasons for raising had the most positive results. This will help you decide when you
should raise or not.
It is a good idea to do this activity every so often. It will help you keep on your game and raise at
the right times.
Brough to you by,
www.pokersecretsschool.com - FREE "Winning Online Texas Holdem Poker" e-book!
Today we will talk about “The secret art of raising”. Most people think that you only raise when
you have a good hand and you want to win more money. This is correct but there are many other
reasons to raise and to be a winning player you need to know what you want to get from a raise
and if it is working.
There are 5 major reasons to raise:
1. To get more money from your hand.
2. To eliminate players.
3. To get a “Free” card.
4. To gain information.
5. To bluff or semi-bluff
1. To get more money from your hand. This is the simplest reason to raise a pot. Basically when
you feel that you have the best had you are going to raise to try to get more money in the pot. If
you have the “Nuts”, the best hand possible at the time this is the only reason you should raise.
Sometimes you may not want to raise in this case. You may want to slow play the hand.
2. To eliminate players. This is a pretty simple concept as well. This is the reason you raise with
AA or KK. You want to get people out before they can see the flop. AA and KK do very well
against a few people but against a lot of people there’s a good chance you will loose after all 5
cards come out. Another time when you might raise to eliminate players is when you flop top
pair, example: You hold AK and the flop comes 9 10 K, You now have top pair with the best
kicker. Here you would want to get people out of the hand so they don’t make 2 pair, a straight,
or a flush.
3. To get a “Free” card. Well you don’t get it for free but it costs you less. You would raise to get a
free card if you flop and open ended straight draw or flush draw and were in a later position. See
if you were playing 3-6 and you raised on the flop you would put an extra 3 dollars but in most
cases the other player or players will check to you assuming you have a better hand. This saves
you from calling a 6 dollar bet on the turn, instead you get it for free. You might also want to raise
the flop in late position when you have top pair and a weak kicker or mid pair with a good kicker.
4. To gain information. This is a more complex reason to raise. This move works best on or
before the flop. Before the flop you don’t know anything about a players hand other than it could
be anything but if you raise and a player re-raises then you know he has a good hand. Most
likely a hand in Group #1 or maybe #2. If he just calls you know that he probably doesn’t have a
“monster” hand. Now lest say after the flop you have a pair of aces with a 7 kicker, and your
opponent bets into you. Now if you call you couldn’t really tell how big of a hand he has but if you
raise him and he re-raises you are probably beat at least with a better kicker. This is a way to
actually save money. If you called all the way down to see his AK then you have lost a lot more
than you have to.
5. To bluff or semi-bluff. We wont get into bluffing right now. You really wont need to do much
bluffing in lower limit games. Most bluffing goes on in higher limit games, No-limit games, and
no-limit tournaments. Semi-bluffing however is something you need to know about. Semi-
bluffing is betting a hand that probably isn’t the best one at the time but can improve with more
cards. The real goal to semi-bluffing is to win the pot right then and there. So you only want to
semi- bluff when there are only a few player in the pot, you think you everyone might fold after
you bet or raise, and you are very sure that no one will check raise you. There are many
opportunities to semi-bluff in every game, most of the time they are not the right move though.
Remember to semi-bluff accordingly.
If you look back at all the reasons to raise you will see that a lot of the times when you raise you
might accomplish more than one goal. You might raise to get a free card but also gain
information and get more money in the pot. Its good to have a specific reason or two in your
mind before every raise, this way you wont be raising just for the sake of raising.
-----Suggestion-----
Next few times you play poker online have a notebook right in front of you. Every time you make a
raise write down what the main reason for raising was. Then write down if it was successful or
not. After you have about 25 entry’s for each of the 5 reasons look through your records and find
out what reasons for raising had the most positive results. This will help you decide when you
should raise or not.
It is a good idea to do this activity every so often. It will help you keep on your game and raise at
the right times.
Brough to you by,
www.pokersecretsschool.com - FREE "Winning Online Texas Holdem Poker" e-book!
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